Kids With Guns
by megann310
Summary: It's any parent's worst nightmare. Send your kid to school, then find out they may not come home.
1. Chapter 1

**6 a.m.**

Mary Anderson groaned loudly as she heard her alarm blasting early that morning. She rolled over and sleepily felt around on the clock until she found the snooze button. She pressed it, then closed her eyes again. Another few minutes of sleep was just what she needed.

"Dammit, Mary! You better be up. You're not about to be late again!"

Sighing, Mary slowly sat up when she heard the voice of her angry father.

"I'm up, Dad!" she yelled back. She listened as the footsteps outside her door went away. She then got out of bed, turning her alarm off for good.

That morning, Mary had to be at school on time. She knew if she wasn't, her dad wasn't going to let her go with her boyfriend to his house in the Hamptons that weekend. So that morning, the ritual of her going to Starbucks and then arriving twenty minutes late to school would have to wait until next week.

When Mary opened up the curtains to her bedroom window, she scrunched up her nose in disgust at what she saw. Gray skies with snow lightly falling. As she made her way to the closet to look at her collection of winter clothes, she thought about how much she wished it were summer. Then she could be sitting on a beach in Mexico, wearing a skimpy bikini, sipping on a frozen drink. Instead, she was stuck wearing skinny jeans, sweaters, and Uggs, while sipping on coffee as she made her way to school.

_At least it's my last year of high school_, she thought as she finally made her choice of what to wear.

She quickly got dressed, sent her boyfriend a good morning text, then headed out the door to go to get her coffee. The people who served her every day would be shocked to see her before 7:30. Mary shuddered at the thought of her actually being on time. She hadn't been on time to school since probably sixth grade.

_Well I guess there's a first time for everything._

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**6:30 a.m.**

Every morning since his freshman year, Liam Nelson had gotten up early and went for a jog. That morning, even with the chilling temperatures and snow, was no different. How else was he supposed to stay captain of the lacrosse team?

He had been jogging through Central Park for about ten minutes when he felt his phone start to vibrate. Slowing down, he pulled his phone out from his pocket and grinned when he saw it was a text from Mary.

So many things had gone wrong for Liam in his life. Even now, things weren't perfect with his home life, but having Mary as his girlfriend seemed to make those things disappear. With Mary, life was great.

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**6:35 a.m.**

Elizabeth Tanner felt herself being gently shaken awake.

"Lizzie, sweetheart, it's time to wake up."

Slowly opening her eyes, it took Lizzie a second to realize that instead of being in her bed, her head was laying on top of her open physics book on her desk. Realizing it was morning, her head shot up.

"Mom, what time is it?" she asked.

"It's 6:45. Did you stay up all night studying again?" her mom asked.

Lizzie nodded.

"I have a huge test fourth period. I really don't want to fail."

Her mother nodded, then placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Honey, I know you'll do great. You always do," she said in a calming voice.

Lizzie smiled.

"Thanks, Mom."

"You're welcome. Now hurry and get dressed. You've got to walk your brother to his school."

Lizzie only nodded in response as she gathered up her things from the desk. All she wanted to do right now as go to her class and get the dreaded test over with. She sighed when she realized that class wasn't for another few hours.

It was going to be a long day.

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**6:45 a.m.**

It was a great morning for Patrick Moore. It was one of those mornings that he felt as if nothing could go wrong. Even sitting at the kitchen table eating his breakfast while his parents gushed over how much they adored his older brother's girlfriend wouldn't bring him down. He didn't care if his family ignored the fact that he was even there. After today, it wouldn't matter. After today, he'd have a girl more perfect than his brother and his girlfriend combined.

A smile formed on his face when the image of _her_ popped into his mind. With her curly light brown hair, her beautiful blue eyes, and her adorably goofy smile, she was everything he had ever wanted.

And today, he would prove to her, and to everyone else, that he wasn't who they thought he was. He was a man. A man who wasn't going to let people fuck with him, or with _her_ anymore.

Then after today, she'd come crawling to him, and they could live happily ever after.

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**7:00 a.m.**

Lucy Messer had just finished putting her books in her backpack when there was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in!" she called out, zipping up her backpack. She then looked up and grinned when she saw her dad walk in, carrying a paper bag.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked.

"One of them huge cinnamon rolls from that bakery you like so much," he said, confirming what she had thought.

Lucy took the bag from him, then gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks Daddy. You're amazing," she said. She then opened the bag and frowned. "Someone took a bite from this."

"Well I wonder who would do a thing like that," Danny said, smirking at his daughter's half pissed off, half amused expression.

Lucy just shook her head at his response.

"I should get going," she said as she zipped up her coat and walked past him to get to the front door.

"Okay. You have a good day. And say hi to Emily for me, and tell her to get ungrounded soon. This place is just too quiet without her around."

Lucy laughed as she opened the front door.

"I'll be sure to do that. Love you, Dad!" Lucy said over her shoulder as she left the apartment.

"Love you, too," Danny said, closing the door after her.

He then went to wake his wife up before he headed out for just another day at work.

**So. Tell me what you all think. Please?**


	2. Chapter 2

**7:10 a.m.**

Every morning at school, it was a rule that you had to go to the cafeteria until 7:20, which was when you were allowed to go to class, ten minutes before school started. Mary had never had to do that, and now she understood why she was all to happy to skip out on that rule.

Standing close to the doors of the large room, she scanned the crowds of people, noticing all of them were people she'd never be caught dead with. They were the losers of the school.

Sighing when she realized she wasn't going to see any of her friends before 7:20, she looked around for something to do. She grinned when she saw Elizabeth Tanner standing in the corner with Emily Robinson.

"Lizzie!" she exclaimed as she walked up to her and Emily, "You're just the person I was hoping to see! Look, I got so busy last night, and I had like, no time to do the algebra homework. Any chance you'll let me copy yours?"

"Um, I guess you can. Sure," Lizzie said. She had just pulled it out of her backpack when the voice of one of her friends stopped her.

"Hey, what's goin' on?"

Mary turned around and rolled her eyes when she saw who it was.

Lucy Messer.

Mary had hated the bitch since second grade, when she accidently spilled red paint on her brand new jeans. There was also the fact that she had a pathetic little crush on Liam. The fact that she even thought she had a chance with him was enough to keep her laughing for at least a month.

"Lizzie here was just about to be kind enough to let me borrow her homework. Got a problem with that?" Mary asked. She watched as Lucy gave Lizzie a look, then just shake her head. "That's wheat I thought."

Mary grabbed the homework assignment, then shoved Lucy out of the way when she walked away.

_I really hope I don't have to deal with any more of these freaks this morning,_ she thought. _Oh, I spoke too soon._

She hadn't even made it to the doors when Patrick Moore stepped in her way.

"Um, excuse me freak. I'm walking here," she said in an annoyed voice.

"Why don't you leave Lucy the hell alone?" he said, ignoring what Mary said.

"Oh, well isn't this cute? One loser sticking up for another!" she said, laughing.

"You're going to regret saying that," Patrick said calmly.

"Really? What do you think you're going to do to make me regret it?"

Patrick's lips curled into a wicked smile.

"You'll find out soon enough," he said before walking away.

Mary just shook her head and laughed some more. What could one freak do to her?

____________________________________________________________________

**7:17 a.m.**

"I can't believe you didn't kick her ass when she shoved you out of the way. Are you sick or something?"

Lucy laughed at Emily's question, shaking her head.

"No, I just promised my parents I'd try to be good," she explained.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter since your boyfriend Patrick seems to have it under control," Emily said.

"He's not my boyfriend. We're just friends. He's in my math class, and he doesn't have anyone else to talk to, so I'm nice to him," Lucy said. "Now Lizzie, why the hell are you still letting Mary copy your homework?"

Lizzie shrugged.

"I just want her to like me."

Lucy sighed in response. Lizzie had been one of her best friends since kindegarten, and she knew how smart, sweet, and caring Lizzie was. So it never made any sense to her why Lizzie felt she needed to be accepted by Mary. Sure, Mary was pretty, popular, captain of the cheerleading squad, and homecoming queen, but she was nothing compared to Lizzie, one of the kindest people Lucy had ever met. Mary didn't deserve Lizzie as a friend, or a person to copy homework off of. Lucy just wished Lizze would see that.

The bell rang, causing the three best friends to groan in annoyance.

"Is it 2:30 yet?" Emily asked as they left the cafeteria and headed to class.

"I wish," Lizzie said, "then we could start the weekend. I'm so ready for it."

"Seriously," Lucy said, nodding her head in agreement, "I'm ready for pizza and The Notebook at my place tonight."

"Is your uncle Flack going to start crying again during it? Because that was really weird last time," Emily said.

Lucy shook her head, laughing as she remembered the last time her and her two best friends had decided to have a movie night at her place. They had all agreed on watching The Notebook, and instead of going out with Danny like planned, Flack insisted that they watch the movie so they could see why the hell girls liked it so much. By the end of the movie, he was crying more than the girls were.

"No, he won't be there tonight," Lucy insisted.

"Great. Well, I'll see you guys at lunch. I've gotta go to gym. I hate that class. It's nothing but freshman," Emily said, rolling her eyes.

Lucy and Lizzie both just laughed, then linked arms as they walked into their AP History class together.

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**7:48 a.m.**

Patrick had never skipped class before. He'd never even been late. So sitting in the bathroom stall while everyone else was sitting in their classrooms felt a little weird to him.

He'd been in there since the first bell, waiting for the perfect time. He figured 7:50 would be a good time. Classes would have been going on for twenty minutes already, so it would be a total suprise when he walked in.

He pulled out his phone. 7:48. He sighed in frustration. Sure, he could have done it two minutes earlier, but he was OCD about some things, so he had to wait until exactly 7:50.

While he waited, he thought about why he was doint it. One reason was for his stupid parents to pay attention to him instead of his fucking brother for once. Another huge reason was to get back at the bitches who had tortured him since pre-school. An image of Mary Anderson popped into his head when he thought of this reason, and he thought about what he had told her earlier. She was going to regret what she said that morning, and every other time she'd been horrible to him.

And then of course the third reason for doing all of this was for Lucy.

He glanced at his phone again and grinned as he read the numbers on the screen. He shoved his phone back into his pocket, then reached into his backpack and pulled out the object he was searching for.

It was time to show that school who they had been fucking with all those years.

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**8:00 a.m.**

Lindsay Messer had been staring at the computer for what seemed like forever. She had totally forgotten what she was even supposed to be doing. She could already tell that it was going to be a long day since she was already geting distracted so early in the morning.

Leaning back in her chair, she sighed, wishing she had the day off. Then maybe she could finally start her Christmas shopping.

"Hey Linds,"

Lindsay looked at the door and smiled when she saw Adam.

"Hey Adam, what's up?"

"I, uh, got those DNA results you wanted," he began. He was about to say something else, but stopped when Danny hurried past him.

The second Lindsay saw Danny, she could tell something was wrong. He looked pale as a ghost, and his face had panic written all over it.

"Danny, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I just got off the phone with Flack. We've gotta get to Lucy's school, now," he explained quickly.

Lindsay gave him a confused look, not understanding what was going on. However, before she could ask why, Danny gave her an answer she'd never imagine in a million years.

"There's been shots fired."

**Reviews make me super happy, so please review :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay, so I wasn't planning on updating any time soon (thanks to school and all that yucky stuff), but after watching last night's episode, and the ADORABLE D/L scenes (he called her Montana again! Yay yay yay!), I was totally inspired to write a chapter. Even though it's not really a D/L story. But whatever. It's still an update. LOL! **

**So thanks to **_uscrocks, csimesser1, BlackRose86, missyal, saderia, and BlueEyedAuthor_** for reviewing! I really appreciate it. Please keep reviewing! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

Over the years, Danny Messer had been to more crime scenes than he could count, but none could be compared to the scene he had just pulled up to.

It was pure chaos outside of the high school The snow was stained with blood. Parents were frantic and crying out for their kids. Paramedics were helping the injured.

As Danny jumped out of the car and ran closer to the school, with Lindsay close behind, he kept his eyes wide open for any sign of Lucy.

"Do you see her anywhere?" he heard Lindsay ask. He shook his head, then he spotted Flack. He hurried over to him, desperate for information.

"Have you seen Lucy? Is she out here?" Danny asked, trying hard to keep his voice from cracking. He couldn't break down now. He had to stay strong.

"I haven't seen her yet. But there's a lot of people out here, she could just be stuck in the crowd, looking for you," Flack responded. He prayed for Danny and Lindsay's sake that he sounded hopeful enough.

Danny was about to say something to Flack, but stopped when he heard someone calling his name.

"Mr. Messer!"

He turned around and saw Lucy's best friend, Emily Robinson, running towards him. Before she could reach him, however, she was stopped by on officer who was telling her to stay away form the building.

"Hey, it's okay, let her through! She's with us!" Danny yelled. The man nodded and stepped aside, letting Emily go past.

"Oh my God!" Emily cried as soon as she reached Danny. "It's horrible...he was shooting and...I."

She didn't even finish her sentence before she broke down crying. Danny took her into his arms, trying to comfort her as much as he could.

"Do you know where Lucy is?" he asked once she had calmed down a bit.

Sniffling, Emily shook her head, trying to fight back the second round of tears.

"I haven't seen her, or Lizzie. You don't think they're still inside, do you?"

Danny was quick to shake his head.

"No, no, I'm sure they're just somewhere in the crowd of people," he said, reusing what Flack had told him.

Looking to his left at Lindsay, who was now talking to Mac, he motioned her over.

"Take Emily to find her mom," he told her once she reached him. "I'm going inside with Flack."

Lindsay nodded, then she put her arm around Emily's shoulders.

"Come on, sweetie. Let's go find your mom."

As Danny watched them walk away, he prayed that Lindsay would be the one to find their daughter and not him. Because if she was the one to find her, at least he knew Lucy would be alive.

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Silence.

That's all there was in the classroom Lucy was in. There weren't any voices or footsteps or anything. All was quiet, but Lucy knew she wasn't alone. He was still in the room. She could feel it.

Sitting underneath the teacher's desk, her knees curled up against her chest, she didn't dare make any noises. She wanted to sob after what had happened, and especially when she saw the blood on her hands, but any noise would let him know she was there.

_Why God, why can't he just leave??_

She kept hoping that her parents or one of her uncles would burst through the door, guns raised, ready to save her. But as each second passed, nothing happened.

Then, as if some miracle had happened, she heard the footsteps head for the door. She felt her heart start to beat faster, waiting for him to get out.

And that's when she felt it.

The all too familiar feeling in her nose. She pressed her arm hard against her nose, trying to stop what she felt coming, but she couldn't.

She sneezed, then shuddered when the footsteps turned from the door and hurried to where she was. It wasn't long before she saw him, his icy blue eyes staring into hers. The sobs that she had been trying to keep hin came out as she pleaded with him.

"Please Patrick, please...don't hurt me...please," she cried.

A chill ran down her spine when Patrick just smile.

"You think I'd ever hurt you, Lucy?" he asked, his voice calm. He reached down and grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet. "You should know by now that I would never hurt you."

His arm was still gripping hers, so she pulled it away, taking a step back.

"Why're you doing all of this? Why?" she asked. She knew she should run, but it was as if her feet were planted to the ground. Besides, if she ran, he would probably shoot her.

"Why'd I do this? Why do you think? The people in this school, they treat me like shit! It's about time they got what they deserve."

"But Lizzie, she never treated you badly," Lucy said, not looking to the side of the classroom where one of her best friends lay motionless. She had to stay calm if she planned on getting out of there alive.

"She just happened to get in the way," he said. The lack of remorse in his voice made Lucy want to vomit. "But Luce, I did this for both you and me. Now none of those people will ever disrespect us ever again."

"Why would you do this for me?"

"Because, Luce. Because I'm in love with you," he said, grinning.

Lucy couldn't believe what she was hearing. Maybe hearing this was a good thing, though. She could use what he was saying to get her out of there.

"Patrick, if you love me, then you'll let me go, right?" she asked, slowly beginning to turn around.

"No."

Lucy stopped dead in her tracks. For the first time, Patrick's voice was strong.

"I've got something better planned, something romantic," he said. "You've read _Romeo and Juliet_, right?"

Lucy stared at him, confused. She had no clue why he was talking about a play. Then it dawned on her. She knew what he was planning. A murder-suicide, so they could die together. Just like Romeo and Juliet.

This boy was beyond sick.

She could feel the fresh tears forming in her eyes. She eyed the gun in Patrick's hand. She had to get out of there. There was no way in hell she was letting anyone in her family, especially her mom or dad, carry her out of there in a body bag.

Lucy reached for the gun, trying to get it away from him. They fought, and she felt herself fall to the ground, him landing on top of her. They fought some more, and then there was a loud bang.

And once again, the classroom was silent.

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Walking down the hallway of the school, Danny felt his stomach churn at the amount of blood he saw. It was like some horror movie, except this was all too real.

Every body he saw, he prayed it wasn't Lucy. He didn't know what he would do if one of them actually was her.

With his gun raised, he inspected classrooms, trying to find the gunman. Each time he entered a room, he felt like he was going to be sick. There were books scattered around, purses wide open on desks, most likely open to hide a cell phone while texting. It had just been another day at school, and then all of this had happened. He just didn't understand how people could do things like this.

Just as he was about to enter another room, Danny heard the gunshot. He glanced at Flack, then motioned to a room at the end of the hall where the noise had come from. They ran down the hall, and Flack was the first to enter the room. He stopped, then he turned sideways so Danny could see inside.

As soon as Danny looked at the scene in front of him, he knew this time, he really was going to be sick.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you so much for all of the review! I'm so glad you all like this story. I didn't know how everyone would feel about me writting about such a difficult, not to mention depressing, topic, so I'm glad that you all do like it. And I'm sorry it's been awhile since I've updated, but I'm in the writing mood, so hopefully my next update will be as soon as tomorrow. And plus, I've gotten whole new ideas for what to put in this story, so I'm excited to get to work on the next chapters. Oh, and the part that's in italics in this chapter is the flashback, the story that Lucy's telling. **

**Disclaimer: The only things that are mine are the things that you don't recognize from the show. **

As he stood staring inside the interrogation room at his daughter, Danny couldn't keep the image of what he saw not even an hour before out of his mind. His little girl, covered in blood, sitting on the floor while she hugged her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth. She had looked lost, scared, broken. And even when he had entered the room with Flack, she hadn't been able to take her eyes off the body of the boy that was laying next to her. When she had finally looked up, Danny saw nothing but fear in her eyes.

_"He was going to kill me."_

That was all she said before she broke down, but it was enough for Danny and Flack to understand. The body of that boy was the shooter, the one who had caused so much terror on that school. Danny didn't know what all had happened yet, but just knowing how close his daughter had come to being shot made him sick. Since the day she had been born, Danny had done everything to protect her from the stuff that he saw everyday from just doing his job. And then this happens, at the one place everyone had least expected it to. It just pissed him off so much that this could happen.

Danny was so deep in thought that he jumped when he heard footsteps come up from behind. He turned and saw Flack standing there.

"Are you ready to find out what happened?" Flack asked, nodding his head to the room where Lucy sat waiting with Lindsay. Danny took a deep breath and nodded.

"Yeah, I think. I just, I don't know how much of this I really want to hear," Danny said, turning his attention back to the room. He watched as Lindsay tried to comfort their daughter, but Lucy didn't seem to respond. She just sat there, staring at the wall. Danny felt his heart break for her. He could only imagine what she was going through right now. He looked at Flack again and nodded his head, signaling that they should go in.

"Hey Luce," Flack said as he entered the room, trying to make the atmosphere as comfortable as he possibley could. He took a seat across from her while Danny sat in the empty chair next to her, taking her hand. "So, I'm going to need you to tell us what happened."

Lucy looked at Lindsay, then at Danny.

"It's alright, sweetie," Danny said, squeezing her hand, "Just tell us everything you can. If you want to stop, tell us. We aren't going to push you."

Lucy nodded, then took a deep breath before telling her story.

"Class started off perfectly normal, just like it did any other day..."

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_"We've got five minutes until class actually starts. Why are we always in here so early?" Lucy asked Elizabeth as she sat in her desk and got out her textbook. Elizabeth, who was sitting on top of the desk in front of Lucy's, shrugged. _

_  
"Maybe it's because we're such good students. We just can't get enough of the classroom!" Elizabeth suggested, laughing at the face that Lucy had just made._

_"Great, so you're pretty much saying we're geeks," Lucy said, joining in on the laugher. She then opened up her book and pulled out a piece of folded up paper. She unfolded and stared at the sheet. "I'm so going to ace this vocabulary quiz today. How about you?"_

_"We won't have it today. We have a substitute," Elizabeth said, grinning. Lucy let out a sigh of relief. _

_  
"Oh, thank God, because I was totally kidding. I was really going to fail," she said, shoving the paper back into her book. Then she put her book back into her backpack. A class with a substitute meant a slacker class. She wouldn't do anything all class period except talk to Elizabeth. That was the perfect way to start off her day. _

_For the next few minutes, Lucy and Elizabeth chatted until pretty soon, the other nine students in their class showed up. When the bell rang, Elizabeth went back to her desk. Lucy watched as the substitute, a kind looking older woman, walked inside the class and shut the door. She smiled at the students, probably wondering if she'd get a reaction. Lucy smiled back, and she swore it must have made the woman's day. Pretty soon the announcements were on. Lucy zoned out during this time. After all, they said the same thing everyday. Buy your tickets to the Winter Dance, basketball practice after school, seniors have to turn in money for the Senior Trip, etc. Nothing ever changed, so Lucy figured she didn't feel the need to pay attention. _

_After the announcements were done with, the sub took role. Lucy could pretty much not pay attention during this, also. She had gotten pretty good at only hearing what she had to hear and ignoring everything else. So she could ignore the other names the sub called and only hear when she said Messer. _

_Normally Lucy didn't zone out this much, but she couldn't help it in this class. Not with Liam in the class. She could look at him, then suddenly her thoughts would be about Liam, Liam, Liam. She knew she had to end this crush, but she honestly couldn't help it. He was such a sweet, funny, and caring guy. And Lucy still couldn't see what he saw in Mary, who was a cold-hearted bitch. _

_She sighed, wishing that he could just wake up and realize that he belongs with her and not Mary. She didn't care if she sounded like a stupid Taylor Swift song or some cheesy movie. She just wanted Liam. _

_Lucy felt something hit her in the head, knocking her out of her trance. She looked down on her desk and saw a crumbled up piece of paper. She opened it up and saw Elizabeth's handwriting, telling her to quit daydreaming about marrying Liam. Lucy turned around and gave her a smirk. It was at that moment that she heard a strange noise. _

_The noise was far away, but it was still loud enough for everyone in the class to hear. _

_"Oh God, Ms. Miller must have finally caused an explosion in her classroom," a boy said, causing everyone to laugh. Ms. Miller was a crazy chemistry teacher, so nobody doubted that the boy was wrong. Only the noise happened again, and again. _

_Everyone in the class was looking at each other, wondering what was going on. When Lucy paid closer attention to the noises, she felt her stomach drop. _

_Bang, bang. _

_She knew those noises. She'd heard them plenty of times in her life. _

_"Someone's got a gun!" _

_She thought that she had kept the thought in her head, but when she saw that the class was now staring at her, silent, she realized that she had shouted it. _

_"Lucy, are you--" someone began, but when they heard the noise grow closer, the person stopped. There was no questioning Lucy about her sanity. Those noises were unmistakeable. And that's when the panic broke out. _

_"Oh God, how are we going to get out?"_

_"Who the hell's shooting?!"_

_"Do you think anyone's gotten shot? Do you think anyone's hurt?"_

_"No, this can't be happening, it can't!"_

_Lucy couldn't speak. Everyone in the room was yelling, but she sat in her desk, frozen. All she could think about was what the hell she was going to do. Escaping out the window wasn't an option, but the entire class couldn't just shuffle out into the hallway while there was a crazy person with a gun out there. They had to block the door to the class. It was the only way. _

_Only it was too late. Just as Lucy was about to get up, the door to the classroom opened, and suddenly Lucy found herself in a situation she hoped would never happen to her. Automatically, she got to the ground. As soon as she did, she heard the gunfire, and her heart stopped when the first person she saw drop was her best friend. _

_"Lizzie!" she shouted. When Lizzie didn't respond, she felt a tear fall out of her eye. No, this couldn't be happening. It had to be a nightmare. _

_She heard more gunfire and more screaming, and as quickly as it had started, it had stopped. She knew not everyone was shot. She'd seen some run out of the class. Only Lucy hadn't. She was scared to even try to run past the boy. And now she was terrified he would come back. _

_Slowly, she stood up and looked around the classroom. Three bodies. One was the kind substitute. The other was the boy who had made the comment about Ms. Miller's class. And the other...  
_

_"No, Lizzie," she said, walking over to her best friend. She knelt down and felt for a heartbeat. There wasn't one. _

_Lucy wanted to sit there and cry, but at the moment, she felt more fear than she did sadness. She didn't want to go out in the hallway. She still heard gunfire. He was still out there. But then there was the fear of if he came back. She looked around the classroom, and decided her best chances of survival was under the teacher's desk. There she could wait until help arrived. _

__________________________________

"...and then he pointed the gun at me. I wasn't about to die, so I fought with him for it. We fell to the ground, and I had my hand on the gun, and then there was a shot. I felt the blood, and for a second, I thought I was shot. Then I pushed him off of me, and I realized, he was dead. I know I pulled the trigger. I killed him."

When she finished talking, the only sounds in the small room were those made by her and Lindsay crying. After hearing the story, Danny wanted to cry too, but he knew he couldn't. He had to stay strong for his daughter.

"What's going to happen to me?" Lucy asked, looking at Flack, "I killed someone, and I can't say it was an accident, because I meant to pull that trigger."

"Nothing's going to happen. It was obviously self defense. He would have killed you," Flack answered, having a hard time saying the last part of his sentence. He couldn't even imagine what would have happened if she hadn't killed the boy. He didn't even want to think about it.

"What about Emily? Is she...she didn't..is she alright?" Lucy asked, praying to God she was.

"Yeah," Danny said, nodding, "I talked to her outside of the school. She's freaked out, but she's fine."

Lucy nodded, trying to get her mind to not go back to the image of her other best friend laying in a pool of blood. And then there was the image she got of Liam. He had made it out of their classroom and down the hall, but he'd still gotten shot. When her and Danny had walked past him, she thought he was dead. Lucy had told Danny to check his pulse, and he had. There was a faint pulse, so Lucy knew that he'd been taken to the hospital. She didn't know his condition right now, but she prayed he was going to be alright. She prayed that everyone who had gotten hurt would be alright.

And Lucy prayed that eventually the images would escape her head and that she, too, would be alright.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you so, so, so much for all the reviews! And sorry for not updating sooner. I'm trying to get better at that. And I hope everyone likes this chapter, because I sure do. **

_It was a warm, sunny day in the summer. Lucy was sitting on a bench in Central Park, her mind concentrated on the book in her hands. She could hear the happy laughter of children in the distance and the birds in the trees were merrily chirping away. It was one of those days that Lucy loved. A day that she could just relax and enjoy life. It seemed like nothing could, or would, go wrong on such a perfect day. _

_  
"Hey Luce."_

_Lucy looked up from her book and smiled when she saw Lizzie standing in front of her. She was wearing a white summer dress and she had left her hair down that day so her blonde waves framed her face. To Lucy, she seemed angelic. _

_"Hey, what're you going here?" Lucy asked. She closed her book and set it on the bench, then she stood up. _

_"I just wanted to see my best friend," Lizzie answered, grinning, "Come on, let's go feed the ducks."_

_Lucy nodded her head and followed her friend to the pond. Feeding the ducks was something they did together often. In fact, it had been how they had first met. They'd both been three years old when Lucy's dad and Lizzie's mom had taken them to the very same pond. Lizzie had cried when she had ran out of bread to feed the ducks with, and when Lucy saw, she decided she'd share her bread. Soon they became inseperable, and they remained best friends to that very day. _

_The two of them were standing at the edge of the pond, throwing the bread at the ducks, and giggling like little children when the ducks would argue over who got what piece of bread. This was how Lucy wanted it to be forever. The two of them, best friends for the rest of their lives. They'd eventually get married and have children, and when they did, their children would be best friends. It was just how it was supposed to be. _

_Hours seemed to pass by as they remained at the edge of that pond. Finally, the sun began to set. Lucy turned to her friend to tell her that she should get home. When she looked at Lizzie's appearance, she gasped. The white dressed suddenly had a blood stain around Lizzie's stomach. _

_"Liz, are you bleeding?" Lucy asked. She could hear the panic in her voice. Lizzie looked down at her dress, then touched her hand to the stain. Lucy could see that blood was now on her best friend's hand. When Lizzie looked up again, her eyes, which before had been soft and warm, were now filled with fear. The carefree girl Lucy had been spending the day with had suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a girl who was terrified. And she seemed to be looking at something behind Lucy. She motioned for Lucy to run, but instead, Lucy turned around. _

_The sun was gone now, replaced by dark storm clouds. Standing behind Lucy was Patrick, a look of rage in his eyes. Lucy looked over her shoulder and saw that Lizzie was gone. At that moment, Lucy knew she had to run, but she couldn't feel her legs. She watched as Patrick pointed his gun at her, but she still couldn't move. A sick, twisted smile formed on Patrick's face as he put his finger on the trigger. _

_"You killed me, Lucy."_

_That was all he said before pulling the trigger. _

Lucy shot straight up in her bed, shaking and sweating. She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. That had only been a nightmare. Patrick wasn't back to kill her.

How could he come back? He was dead from the other nightmare that had happened, the one Lucy had yet to wake up from. Only Lucy knew she would never wake up from the nightmare. It was a reality for her. The school shooting had happened, and Patrick had killed seven students and two teachers, nine innocent people in total. And if that didn't make Lucy sick to her stomach, the fact that she had killed a person did. Sure, Patrick wasn't innocent like the people he had killed, but he was still a person, and Lucy had shot and killed him. She didn't know if the guilt from that would ever go away.

Knowing that she wouldn't get any more sleep, Lucy got out of bed and went to the living room. She sat on the couch and flipped on the tv, figuring she could find something to watch that would numb her mind for just a little while. There wasn't much on at four in the morning except for infomercials and a _Law and Order_ marathon. She quickly skipped the marathon on the tv guide, knowing it would be nothing but murder, murder, murder. And that was the last thing she needed to watch. Finally, she found an old episode of _Friends._ Changing the channel to TBS, she got comfortable on the couch and tried to let her mind focus on the comedic issues of Ross and Rachel and nothing else but that.

Unfortunately, her mind couldn't stay on the show and no matter how hard she tried to let it stay there, Lucy couldn't stop thinking about the day ahead. All the funerals for the victims of the shooting were being held that week, and today, it was Lizzie's. Lucy was already dreading it. Since the shooting, she'd only seen her parents, and occasionally one of her uncles. Now today she'd have to go out and see almost everyone she knew. She'd see Emily, her other best friend that she hadn't even been there for. Lucy had no clue what Emily did or didn't see during the shooting, and as selfish as it sounded, Lucy didn't care. Emily hadn't seen one of their best friends die and Emily hadn't killed anyone, so as horrible as it sounded, Lucy didn't care about Emily at the moment.

The other two people Lucy didn't want to see were Lizzie's mom and little brother. Those two were like her other family, and yet she hadn't been there for them, either. This was for a different reason, though. Less than a year ago, Lizzie had lost her dad to cancer. Now that Lizzie was gone, Lucy couldn't even bear to imagine the grief the two of them were feeling. Lucy couldn't even think about what it would be like to lost two family members less than a year apart.

And now today, Lucy would have to face all of them. She'd have to deal with them asking if she'd heard Lizzie's last words, if her last moments were painful, or if she had gone quickly. She didn't know how she was going to get through that day.

Lucy had been so deep in thought that she hadn't even noticed her mother enter the room and sit on the couch next to her. It was the hand her mother placed on her shoulder that finally knocked Lucy out of her thoughts. Lucy turned to face her mother and saw worry written all over her face.

"Baby, what are you doing up?" Her voice was soft and caring, something that Lucy needed at the moment.

"I couldn't sleep," Lucy answered.

Lindsay simply nodded at her daughter's answer, then she pulled Lucy closer and let her rest her head on her shoulder. For Lindsay, she knew exactly what it meant when Lucy said she couldn't sleep. It meant either she'd had a nightmare about the shooting, or she was too wrapped up in thought to even have the chance to fall asleep and experience a nightmare. Lindsay wished that there was something she could say, something she could do, that would make her daughter feel better. Having been in the situation before, though, she knew that it didn't matter how many people tried to make you feel better. The pain would never go away. It would only get easier as time goes by, like it did before.

"Mom, are you going to be at the funeral today?" Lucy asked.

"Of course I will be. Your dad will be too," Lindsay said. She felt Lucy nod, then it grew silent between them again, the only noise in the room being tv show.

Eventually, Lucy began to feel her eyelids grow heavy. She wanted to sleep, but she didn't want to have another nightmare. Only this time she knew if she had a nightmare, she'd wake up and have her mom there to comfort her, and at the moment, that's all she really needed. And she realized, as she began to drift to sleep, having her parents at the funeral today would be the way she'd get through it.


	6. Chapter 6

The cold wind whipped against Lucy's face as she stood outside the funeral home, trying to stop herself from breaking down. The funeral had just ended about ten minutes ago. It was a nice funeral, something that Lizzie would have wanted. Now the guests at the funeral were all paying their respects to Lizzie's mom. Lucy had stayed and watched as people sobbed and hugged the greiving mother, but after a few minutes, she couldn't handle it anymore. She had to get out of there and get some fresh air. Only the fresh air wasn't doing much good. She still felt like crap.

After standing outside for a few more minutes, Lucy decided she should probably go back. She knew she would have to face Lizzie's family sooner or later, so she decided that she should just get it over with now.

Lucy walked back inside the funeral home and made her way to the correct room Lizzie's funeral was being held in. When Lucy entered the room, she realized she had gone into the wrong room. Just as she was about to leave, she froze when she saw Patrick Moore's picture sitting on top of the casket. Her blood chilled at the sight of him, images then coming into her head from the day of the shooting. She quickly shook those images away and took a look around the room, seeing who had shown up for his funeral. She only saw four people. Lucy felt a little bad that only four people had shown up for the funeral, but she figured that no one wanted to go to the funeral of someone who shot up a school.

Deciding she needed to get out of that room, Lucy turned around and began to walk away. She was stopped when the voice of a woman addressed her.

"Have you come to pay your respects to Patrick?"

Lucy turned around and saw an older woman walking to her. _Must be his mother, _Lucy thought.

"Were you one of Patrick's friends?" the woman asked. Lucy stared at the woman, unable to form any words. She then saw how the look of sadness in the woman's eyes changed to a look of anger. "Oh my God, I know who you are. You're that Messer girl! You're the reason my son's in a casket right now! How dare you show up to this funeral! You shot my son!"

Lucy flinched at the venom in the woman's words.

"I, I....he was...he would have killed me," Lucy let out. As soon as she said the words, she regretted them. When Lucy's family had told her that it was only self defense, that Patrick would have killed her, it had been the right thing to say. It was, after all, the truth. However, saying those words to the victim's mother was probably the wrong thing to do.

"How do you live with yourself? How do you live with knowing that you killed a person, and you're not even in jail for it?" Mrs. Moore asked. Upon hearing the words, Lucy felt pissed.

"How do you live with _yourself_ knowing that you raised a son who's ultimate goal in life was to kill a bunch of innocent people?!" Lucy shouted.

She didn't even see Mrs. Moore raise her hand up. All Lucy felt was the stinging pain from being slapped hard across the face. Her vision grew blurry as the tears formed in her eyes. She then felt a strong hand grab her arm and pull her backwards.

"Get the hell outta here," she heard her dad say. She felt a small amount of relief from knowing that her dad was there to rescue her. Quickly, Lucy left the room and headed back to where she was supposed to be. Before she entered the room, Lucy wiped the remaining tears out of her eyes, then she took a deep breath and walked in. She saw her mother standing next to Lizzie's mom, so Lucy went to join her.

"Lucy, I'm so glad you could come. Lizzie would have been glad to see you here," Ms. Tanner said, pulling Lucy into a hug.

"The funeral was really nice," Lucy commented.

"Thank you, sweetie. Oh, Elizabeth's uncle is over there. I have to go talk to him."

Lucy nodded as Ms. Tanner walked away, then she turned to look at her mother.

"What happened to your face, Luce?" Lindsay asked, reaching out to touch the side where Lucy had been slapped. Lucy quickly pushed her mom's hand away, shaking her head.

"Nothing happened," she answered. She hadn't even realized that there would be a red mark.

"Where's your dad?" her mom asked.

"The last I saw him, he was threatening to arrest someone for assult," Lucy said. When she saw the confusion on her mom's face, she shrugged, "Ask Dad. I don't want to talk about it right now. I'm going to go find Emily now, okay?"

Lucy left her mother and walked around the room, trying to find her friend. Maybe if she talked to Emily, she would start to feel a little bit better. Instead of finding Emily, though, Lucy found Lizzie's little brother, sitting on a chair in the corner. Lucy made her way over to him.

"Hey Paul," she said, sitting on an empty chair next to the nine year old. He gave Lucy a weak smile, then he looked down at his lap before speaking.

"Is Lizzie ever coming back?" he asked.

Lucy felt whatever was left of her heart shatter at the boy's innocent question. Taking Paul's small hand in her own, she sighed, not wanting to answer his question.

"No," she said quietly.

"So is she up in Heaven? I think she is, because she's an angel, and angels go to Heaven, right?"

Lucy could feel a fresh batch of tears beginning to form in her eyes. It wasn't fair that Paul had to lose his sister at such a young age. At that moment, she felt like running down the hall so she could yell at Patrick's mother some more, telling her that she should have never had kids. Instead, Lucy just smiled down at Paul.

"Yeah, she's in Heaven," she said, "And you don't have to worry about her because your dad is probably taking good care of her."

Paul returned her smile, then gave her a hug. "Thanks, Lucy."

"Anytime, kiddo."

* * *

A few weeks had gone by since the funerals for all of the victims, and things seemed like they were finally beginning to go back to normal. The news didn't broadcast things about the shooting anymore, the school was opening up again, and the kids from the high school were starting to talk about normal things again, and doing their normal routine.

Except things still weren't the same in the Messer household. Danny and Lindsay's worry for their daughter was increasing as she continued to hide away in her room. The only time she seemed to come out was when she went to the bathroom or to the kitchen. She ignored all of her calls, and half of the time, she even ignored her parents. All she did during the day was lay in bed or look at old yearbooks and pictures so she could reminisce about the good times.

Lucy herself was a little bit worried about her behavior. No matter what she did, she just couldn't break away from this depression. And the thing that scared her the most was how alone she felt. She knew that her parents said that they were there for her, but she still felt lonely. They didn't know how she felt. They didn't understand what it was like to lose someone the way she had.

She was alone.

Reaching for her cell phone on her desk, she thought about what she was about to do. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't deal with things anymore. She needed a way to escape.

She took a deep breath as she scrolled through her contacts and found a number that she hadn't dialed in a long time. She pressed the talk button and listened as the phone rang, praying for an answer. Finally, she heard the voice on the other end say hello.

"Hey Eddie, it's Lucy....Yeah, it's been awhile. I just want to tell you that I want to do what I wasn't ready for before. So can you meet me in the park at two?....Great, I'll see you then."

**So who the heck's Eddie?**

**I guess you all will just have to wait and see. **

**And thanks for all of your wonderful reviews! **


	7. Chapter 7

Eddie Augustine sat on a secluded bench in the park, waiting. To say that he had been shocked to get a phone call from Lucy Messer would definitely be an understatement. He never thought he'd hear from her again, and yet there he was, waiting for her to meet him.

Looking to his right, he saw her walking to him, and he had to laugh at how paranoid she looked. Of course, he'd heard about the shit she'd been through, so he didn't exactly blame her for looking like that. He'd probably be a bit paranoid himself it he'd been in that shooting.

"Hey beautiful," he greeted her. She only glared at him and sat on the bench next to him. "Oh come on, what kinda greeting is that?"

"It's not like we're friends," Lucy stated. Eddie shrugged, then scooted closer to her.

"You're right, we haven't been friends since you broke up with me. And tell me Miss Messer, why was it you broke up with me?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Because I found out you're a drug dealer," Lucy said, looking away from him.

"Obviously you don't mind drugs anymore," he said, smirking at her, "You know, I'm pretty surprised you called me for this. I mean, Lucy Messer is actually turning over to the dark side? I never thought I'd see the day!"

Lucy laughed bitterly, then she turned to him and asked seriously, "So you got the stuff?"

"That depends. You have the money?"

Nodding, Lucy reached into her purse and pulled out a wad of cash. She handed it to Eddie, then watched as he counted it. He shoved it into his pocket, then he pulled out a container of prescription pills. Lucy tried to take it from him, but he held it back.

"Not so fast. I really don't think the money's enough. I think you need to do something else in order to get this," Eddie said.

"What the hell, Eddie?! I have you the damn money, what more do you want?" She tried to reach for the pills again, but Eddie shoved them back in his pocket.

"I want you," he said, a smile forming on his face.

"You can't have me," Lucy said firmly.

"Then no pills for you," Eddie said, standing up. "I don't see what the big deal is. We've dated before, and I'm not even asking to date you again. I just wanna sleep with you."

Lucy thought about it for a moment. She'd never had sex before. Was she really willing to give up her virginity for drugs? Although, how bad could it be? When her and Eddie had dated a couple of years before, she had really liked him. He was cute, charming, and had an incredible personality. Maybe if she just thought of that, then it wouldn't be so bad.

No. She couldn't do it. She wouldn't do it.

She stood up, glared at him again, then began to walk away.

"Come on, Lucy! How desperate are you to escape?" Eddie asked. He watched as Lucy stopped, then turn around. He walked closer to her and took her hand in his. "I can help you escape," he said in a low voice.

Staring at the ground, Lucy kept thinking. She needed to escape. That's the whole reason she'd called Eddie in the first place. He had what she needed to escape, and if she had to do something in order to get that escape, then she'd do it.

Looking up at Eddie, she nodded. He took this as a silent yes, and then he guided her back to his place.

* * *

As Lucy sat on her couch, staring at the tv in front of her, she knew that she had made the right decision that afternoon. Already the pills were having an effect on her, and she felt the calmest that she had in weeks. Sure, she also felt like a whore, but the shooting was shoved in the back of her head at the moment, and that was exactly what she needed. She didn't see Patrick, Elizabeth, or the massive amount of blood in her head. All she saw was, well, nothing. Her mind was pretty blank.

She'd been so spaced out that she didn't even hear the door open. When she felt a hand on her shoulder, she must have jumped at least a mile in the air.

"Sorry baby, I didn't mean to scare ya," Danny said, laughing at how startled Lucy had been.

"Oh, it's fine," Lucy said, realizing that it was only her dad. "What's for dinner?"

"I'm gonna to order a pizza. You're mom has to work late tonight. She's working a rough case today. A teenage girl was murdered, and the worst part about it was that her extra-curricular activities involved doin' drugs all the time. It was horrible tellin' the parents, but it makes me thankful that I've got a daughter who'd never do that," he said, smiling and kissing Lucy's forehead.

Lucy knew it had to be paranoia from the drugs, but she couldn't help thinking that her dad knew exactly what she'd done today.

_Did he follow me? Did he have Flack follow me? What the hell?!_

Then the guilt set in when she realized what the ending of his sentence had been. He was proud of her for being the good kid. She then remembered what he'd told her a few months ago. They'd been talking one night, and he had admitted that when he found out that he was going to have a daughter, he'd been scared about having to deal with the stuff that he saw in his cases all of the time. He then said that Lucy was exactly the kind of daughter he'd prayed for.

Remembering that, and knowing what she had gotten herself into today, made her feel like someone just stabbed her in the heart. She'd taken the drugs in order to escape the guilt from the shooting, and now she was feeling a whole new guilt.

When were things ever going to go right for her?

* * *

A week later, Lucy was sent by her parents to pick up their dinner at their regular Chinese restaurant. That night, it was busier than usual, and she had about thirty minutes to kill before her food would be ready. Lucy headed outside to wait so she could be away from the crowds. She'd taken her daily dosage of pills, so it was a calm night for her. She leaned against the wall and stared at a text message on her phone when someone caught her eye. She looked up from the phone and gasped when she saw who the person was.

"Liam?" she asked, even though she already knew it was him. Liam turned his head and smiled when he saw Lucy.

"Hey!" he said. He headed over to her and stopped in front of her. "How are you?"

"I'm good," she lied. "You?"

"Oh, I'm doin' alright. Could be a lot better, but I'm getting by," he answered. Lucy nodded, trying to avoid staring at him. She instead stared at the ground. "You know, I never had a chance to thank you."

This caused Lucy to look up.

"Thank me for what?" she asked.

"For killing that son of a bitch. He deserved it, especially after killing so many innocent people. After killing Mary..."

His voice trailed off, and Lucy knew if he continued, he'd cry. Lucy didn't think she could handle seeing Liam cry, so she only nodded her head in response instead of starting an arguement about how she felt like what she did was horrible.

"So what's your chance of walking again?" Lucy asked, deciding it was best to change the subject. Although now that she'd started this new topic, she knew she'd have to acknowledge the fact that Liam was in a wheelchair. The last time she'd seen him, he'd been bleeding to death. Lucy didn't even know if he'd lived or not until a couple of weeks later. Her mom told her that he had lived, and he was in a wheelchair. Up until now, she'd hoped that it wasn't true, that he walking.

"I've got a twenty percent chance. That's horrible, isn't it? Why don't they just go ahead and tell me that I'm never going to walk again. Which I guess will be okay. I've gotten used to this," he said, pointing to the wheelchair.

"Why does it sound like you're giving up?" Lucy asked, "A chance is a chance. You could still walk."

"Yeah, and how would you know?" Liam asked.

"Because not long after I was born, my dad was shot in the back. The doctor only gave him a _ten_ percent chance of walking again," Lucy explained.

Liam's eyes widened at what Lucy said.

"You're dad? No way! I remember when he taught us baseball in like, the third grade, and he didn't look like he'd ever been a wheelchair."

"Exactly. He didn't give up. He was determined to walk again, and he did," Lucy said. She bent down so she was eye level with Liam, then took his hand, "You just can't give up. You've gotta keep going. If not for yourself, then for Mary. She would have wanted you to walk again."

Liam thought about what she had said, then smiled and squeezed her hand.

"You're amazing, you know that?" he asked.

Lucy gave him a huge smile, the first real smile she'd given since the shooting. And for the first time since the shooting, she actually felt good, and she knew that it wasn't because of the drugs.

**Yeah, I just had to throw Liam in at the end of this, just so you all would know what happened to him. **

**And I've determined that this story is only going to be ten chapters long, so only three more to go! **

**Keep up the reviews, please. I really enjoy 'em :)**


	8. Chapter 8

The first day going back to school had been rough for Lucy. Everywhere she went reminded her of that day, but she took a deep breath and told herself it was over. She could make it through the day, and she did. There was, however, one place that she refused to go to, and that was her history class, where it had all gone down between her and Patrick. She insisted that her guidance counselor switch her into another class. Usually the counselor would tell her that it was too late in the year to do so, but since she knew what Lucy had gone through, she agreed to let her do it.

So now, a month after the first day, Lucy was finally beginning to feel as if her life was normal again. After a couple more weeks of her taking pills, she decided she didn't need it, and she flushed the rest down the toilet. Her and Emily were hanging out again, and she was laughing and enjoying life like she had before the shooting. It felt like the rest of the school year would go by without any more problems, which was exactly what Lucy was praying for.

* * *

It was a Friday, and much to Lucy's disappointment, it was one of those days that just seemed to drag on. By the time her last class of the day rolled around, she was exhausted and just wanted to go home and sleep.

When she entered the classroom, she didn't even notice the group of kids in the corner glaring at her. She just sat at her desk and pulled out her homework like she did on a daily basis. It wasn't until a few of them walked over and stood in front of her that she took notice.

"What's up?" she asked, confused as to why these people were suddenly so interested in her. She'd never talked to them before.

"It's your fault," one of them, the leader of the pack, said angrily. Lucy just stared at them, the expression on her face blank.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"You're the reason the shooting happened!" one of the others shouted. Lucy stared at the three people, stunned at their accusations.

"I didn't shoot all of those people," Lucy said, trying to stay calm. She had to stay calm.

The boy, the one who was the leader, placed his hands on her desk and bent down, moving his face close to hers.

"You might not have pulled the trigger, but if it weren't for you, none of it would have happened."

Lucy stared into the boy's eyes, trying to see if he was joking, but all she saw was ice in them. Before she could speak, the girl in the group spoke.

"Have you not seen the news lately? They found video tapes from Patrick explaining why he did what he did. He wanted to get the attention of the girl he liked. That girl is _you_," she said, giving Lucy an evil look. Lucy's jaw dropped.

"How can you blame me for this? It's not my fault he liked me! He was a seriously disturbed person, and he also killed the people who made fun of him!" She could feel her anger boiling over.

"Maybe if you hadn't ever come to this school, then none of this would have happened!" the boy argued.

"Then he would have just found someone else to like, and then you would probably blame her!" she shouted. Lucy was suddenly beginning to feel the way she had felt the day Patrick's mother had slapped her, only this time, she didn't have her dad to rescue her. And this time, she felt like she couldn't breathe. She had to get out of there.

Standing up, Lucy grabbed her stuff and began to walk to the classroom door.

"Yeah, that's right, get out of here! You're not welcome at this school," the angry boy said, shoving her to the door. Lucy then started to run. She ignored her teacher, who was still standing in the hallway, making sure kids got to their classes. She didn't care if she was shouting at her to get back. Lucy needed out of there, and she wasn't about to look back.

She stopped running once she was far enough away from the school. She then took a look around her and realized how close she was to the hospital. She knew Liam was there for his physical therapy. Smiling at the thought of hanging out with Liam, Lucy walked to the hospital to surprise her friend. Seeing him would make her feel better, because honestly, she'd been fooling herself if she thought things had gotten any better. She'd just gotten better at hiding how she felt.

Well now it was time to end her depression, once and for all.

* * *

As she lay on her bed, Lucy tried to block the images of her parents and her uncles and her aunt Stella from her mind. She pushed Emily's face aside, and Liam's, also. If she didn't think of them, then it would be easier to do what she wanted to do.

Staring at the bottle of prescription pills in her hand, she felt that all too familiar feeling of guilt rise up in her again. She knew it was wrong, but when she'd been hanging out with Liam at his house, she saw his painkillers sitting next to his bed, and she'd snatched them. She felt as if it was the only way to get rid of her depression.

Sitting straight up in bed, she knew she had to get it over with now. She shoved a handful of the pills into her mouth, then downed it with a shot of vodka she'd poured earlier. She choked at the horrible taste in her mouth, then she went back to her former position of laying on the bed. Closing her eyes, she knew that soon, all of the pain she was feeling would be over.

* * *

Danny entered the apartment feeling angry. He'd gotten a call from Lucy's teacher, telling him that his daughter had literally ran away from class.

"Lucy, where the hell are you?!" he shouted as he walked through the apartment, "I know you're here!"

He walked down the hallway and stood outside her bedroom door.

"I swear to God, I'm going to..."

His heart stopped when he opened the door. His only daughter was laying on her bed, a pill bottle in her hand, a bottle of vodka next to the bed. He ran over to her and felt for a pulse. He then pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed 911.

"Come on baby, don't leave me, okay? Don't die, Lucy. Please, God, don't let her die."

He kept reapeating those words up until EMS got to his apartment. As he watched them put his little girl on the stretcher and take her out to the ambulance, frantically trying to save her life, Danny felt himself break down and cry. He didn't even realize that he had collapsed to the ground until he felt someone pulling him up and guide him to the ambulance.

"It's going to be okay, sir," the man who was helping him said.

All Danny could do was pray that the man was right.

**I'll bet you all didn't see that coming. **

**And I know you probably hate me for the cliffhanger, but, I couldn't resist. I'm just evil like that ;)**


End file.
